


Auntie Nat

by MarvelObsessedgirl3



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aunt-Niece Relationship, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton's Farm, Domestic Avengers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Protective Natasha Romanov, Running Away, Sad, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 08:09:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19372699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelObsessedgirl3/pseuds/MarvelObsessedgirl3
Summary: Natasha romanov stays at the Barton Farm and Lila finds out about Natashas past.Can Natasha convince Lila that she's changed?





	Auntie Nat

It was a warm summers day at the Barton farm, and Natasha Romanov was sat on the porch steps, looking out over the field that led up to the barn. She closed her eyes and listened. Natasha listened to the soft rustle of leaves, enjoying the feel of the warm summer sun on her face, which made her red hair shine brightly like fire. The KGB, The Red-room, Shield, The Avengers, everything that she had witnessed over the years made her feel too much like a master assassin sometimes. Sometimes all she wanted was to be Auntie Nat for a while. So whenever she had a spare few days, she would always come up to the farm to see Clint, Laura, Lila, Cooper and Nate, to see her family. Nothing came close to the peace and solitude of the Barton’s farm.

This particular evening, the Barton’s and Natasha had just enjoyed dinner together and Natasha had snuck outside for a few moments of quiet before the usual evening board game marathon began, she was to be paired with Lila, because for some reason Cooper didn’t want to sit with her. Teenage angst, she thought. 

She was about to go back inside, when she heard faint shouting from the two eldest children, Lila and Cooper, who were in the living room. All of a sudden the backdoor opened and Lila ran out, tears streaming down her face.  
‘Lila?’  
Lila’s face crumpled as she looked at her Aunt.  
‘Is it true?’ She whispered, tears falling onto the porch with a soft patter as she looked at her Aunt who raised an eyebrow.  
‘Is what true?’ Natasha replied confused, looking worriedly at the 11 year old, who looked like her heart had been broken. Natasha looked closer and there was something else hidden in her teary red eyes that Natasha couldn’t place.

‘Auntie Nat…Cooper…said that all y…your p…past is on the in…internet. He f…found out at sch…school and he s…said that you…you’re a s…spy and …an assassin. Y…you…hurt p…people be…because you get t…told to. Wh…what if y…you get t…told to h…hurt me? You’d h…have t…to do it wo…wouldn’t you? What about m…mum and dad and Cooper and N…Nate? You d…don’t care about us…at all. You’re a…monster and… I hate you and I ne…never want t…to see you a…again!’ Her voice broke into heartwrenching sobs and before Natasha could say anything to her, she ran down the porch steps, past Natasha, out into the field, behind the trees, no longer in Natasha’s line of sight.

Natasha’s closed her eyes and she felt her heart break. Her breathing sped up and she felt sick. Usually she would go and get Clint or Laura, to deal with Lila if she was upset, as she wasn’t the maternal type, but this was directly about her, a conversation she never wanted to have to have with her, and deep down Natasha knew that Lila needed her. Natasha’s eyes furrowed together in concern and panic as she assessed the situation. 

Her own niece said she hated her, said in a moment of anger and upset of course, but there was something else hidden in the depths of her eyes, a hidden meaning, a hidden emotion, further than anger and upset, what was it? Natasha remembered the panicked look on Lila’s face, panic, upset, anger, confusion … scared. She was scared of her. Whatever was left of Natasha’s heart broke further and at that moment she wished that all the red in her ledger more than ever was gone. But it wasn’t, it was dripping red and now thanks to the fall of Shield/Hydra 6 months ago, her entire ledger and past was on the internet for the world to see. How had Cooper found out? Maybe one of his friends had found out, it was still the main focus on the internet all these months later after all, she was stupid to think that the children would be shielded from it all. She could worry about that later, now she had to find Lila.

She could no longer see Lila, which meant that she didn’t want to be found, although Nat had a pretty good hunch where she might have hidden. She debated for a few more seconds with herself and decided that she couldn’t leave Lila alone out here, so close to dark, so with a sigh, she got up and followed her niece out into the field.

The field led up to the barn, which was behind the trees, blocking it from the kitchen window and the porch’s sight. When Lila was little, she used to go to the barn to see the horses and pretend that she could speak to them if she ever felt sad and this is exactly where Natasha found her a few minutes later.

Natasha carefully opened the barn door, not making a sound, and all she could hear from inside, slightly muffled were heart wrenching sobs.  
‘Lila?’

Natasha looked around the interior of the barn and saw two feet sticking out from behind a haybale, near the other end of the barn, next to the stable.   
‘G…go away’ Lila wailed, hugging her knees to her chest in an effort to protect herself.

Natasha hoped she might have calmed down a bit, but she knew better. The poor girl must have felt like she had been torn apart. So she sat down next to her niece and tried to act casual. She wasn’t any good at comforting people, but this was her little Lila and she wanted to try. She had to explain herself, even if Lila didn’t want to see her ever again, she had to make sure that Lila knew the whole story, or as much of it as you can tell an 11 year old. 

Lila just burst into tears again when Natasha started stroking her hair.  
‘Деткa.’  
‘No. I don’t want to see you. Go a…away.’ She pushed Natasha’s hand away and sobbed.  
‘Маленький, please let me explain and then you can hate me forever, but I need you to know the whole truth… Please Lila.’  
Lila continued to cry but her sobs started to quiet down when Natasha started humming an old Russian lullaby under her breath.   
‘It’s alright,’ she said, stroking the girls hair as she cried. Natasha had no idea what to do now, so she just sat patiently and prepared herself for the worst.

‘A…Au…Auntie…N…Nat,’ Lila managed between sobs.  
‘Деткa?’   
Lila sat up properly and attempted to wipe her red eyes. She looked at Natasha miserably and sniffled. Natasha could see how scared she was, she was physically trembling and it broke something deep inside Natasha.

‘Are y…you g…going to hurt me?’ Lila asked and started crying again and Natasha pulled her into her lap and murmured softly to her, stroking her hair.  
‘Never Lila. Never. I love you so much; you, Cooper and Nate and your mum and Dad. I would never ever hurt you. Before I met your dad I was in a bad way, I was brought up to be a spy and an assassin, and yes, I killed a lot of people, some probably didn’t deserve it, but they got in the way of whatever mission I was on. When your dad found me, we both took them all down and they all died.’   
She left out how they bombed the Red – room and the KGB and tortured the leaders until they went insane, remembering that she was still speaking to an 11 year old. 

‘Your dad then took me to Shield – who were the good guys. I turned a new leaf and started to believe that I could still be a good person, all because your dad saved me and had faith in me. That all happened 15 years ago, and I have never gone back to my old ways since and never will again. Then when Cooper and you were born, I felt something I had never felt before.’ Lila was looking down at her lap and Natasha felt her heart clench.   
‘What did you feel?’ Lila whispered, sniffling.  
‘Love. So much love for you. I used to think it was just for children, but when I looked at you, Coop and Nate for the first time, I was overwhelmed with love and still am, every time I look at you. Lila I would never hurt you.’ Natasha paused, giving the girl a few moments to let all that sink in. All she wanted was to hug her until she stopped feeling sad, but she knew that she had to get the child to properly understand as best as she could do at this age.

‘Then 6 months ago, me and a few friends realised that Shield had lots of bad people working there, so we had to stop them. To stop them, meant to make sure that people knew who they were. That meant that all their secrets had to be uploaded to the internet, and also, everyone else on file, including me and your dad, but I am not that person anymore and I never will be again. I am so sorry that you found out. It was pretty stupid of me to think you wouldn’t, seeing as it’s all over the internet, but I’d hoped you wouldn’t have access to it and if you ever found out, you would be a lot older. I really do love you Lils, you, Coop and Nate, more than anything in the world. I am so proud of you and I am not the person I used to be. I promise. If you want to hate me, that’s fine, I completely understand, please know that I will still love you, no matter what.’

‘I don’t hate you Auntie Nat and you’re not a mo…monster, I’m so sorry.’ Lila wailed, her piercingly blue eyes flooding with tears as she looked at Natasha for the first time since the start of her story, who smiled softly, and as tears rolled down her cheek, Natasha wiped them away with her thumb.  
‘I know Lila, it’s okay. You were just scared. I would have been too if the roles were reversed.’

‘He also said that one day you might not come b…back’ Lila sobbed.  
‘Back from where?’ Natasha was genuinely confused as she looked at the sobbing girl in her arms.   
‘Back from your job. That…you’ll…die.’ She finished miserably looking up to Natasha who sighed heavily and pulled Lila closer.  
‘You know that that might happen Lila, we’ve talked about this before. But you know that I will always try to come back. I will never abandon you and will never put myself in harms way unless I absolutely have to. My main mission has been for the past decade and will always be, to come back to protect you and Coop and Nate. Your Dad might be Hawkeye and your Mum is super cool, but no-one can replace me. I’m super fun Auntie Nat,’ she smiled as the girl laughed through her tears, encouraged to keep going, maybe she was alright at this comforting thing.

‘Lila. You’re not a baby anymore and you now understand why me and your dad fight and what we fight for, we tell you as much as you need to know about what we do, but Cooper was right. One day, we might not come back, me and your dad, but we will always try to and we will always have each others backs. I will talk to Cooper when we go back inside – although I’m sure that your dad will have by now anyway, as we’ve been quite a while.’ Natasha glanced outside, and it was almost dark. 

She looked down at the girl and smiled softly at Lila, who looked up at her with all the love and admiration in the world, like she always did. No longer scared or upset.  
‘I love you Auntie Nat.’ The little girl threw her arms around Natasha’s neck and Natasha picked her up and held her close.  
Lila blinked sleepily as she laid her head on Natasha’s shoulder, like she did when she was little, as her Aunt hugged her and hummed another lullaby under her breath. 

‘I love you too Деткa.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! I love Natasha Romanov and decided to write a few fanfictions with different characters and difficult encounters and issues.   
> #blackwidow


End file.
